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Monday, November 17, 2014

A painting of the Killdeer Mountain Conflict of 1864 by Carl Boeckman.

The Apple Creek Fight And

Killdeer Mountain Conflict Remembered

Dakota Conflict In Dakota Territory

By Dakota Wind

KILLDEER, N.D. - “Four Horns was shot in the Killdeer
Battle between Sioux and General Sully’s troops…some time after the fight, his
daughter cut out the lead bullet,” One Bull said to Colonel Alfred Welch on a hot
July day in 1934 at Little Eagle, S.D. “The report [that] the soldiers killed
hundreds of Indian dogs is untrue,” said One Bull, “because Indian dogs,
half wild creatures, would follow the Indians or run away long before soldiers
would come up within range.[1]

The Killdeer Mountain conflict
occurred on July 28, 1864. Sully was under orders to punish the Sioux in
another campaign following the September, 1863 massacre of Dakȟóta and Lakȟóta peoples at Pa ÍpuzA Napé Wakpána
(Dry Bone Hill Creek), also known as Whitestone Hill.[2]

The Lakȟóta
and Dakȟóta knew Killdeer Mountain as Taȟčá Wakútepi (Where They Hunt/Kill
Deer), Killdeer. The hunting there was good and dependable, and the people came
there regularly, not just to hunt but to pray as well. The plateau rises above
the prairie steppe allowing for a fantastic view of the landscape, and open sky
for those who came to pray.

A hand-tinted photo of Matȟó Watȟákpe by Frank Fiske.

Matȟó
Watȟákpe (Charging Bear; John Grass), led
the Sihásapa (Black Sole Moccasin; Blackfeet Lakȟóta)
on the defensive at Killdeer. The Sihásapa had nothing to do with the 1862 Minnesota
Dakota Conflict. “In this surprise attack the Indians lost everything… soldiers
destroyed tons of food, etc.,” Matȟó Watȟákpe
told Welch, and added that great suffering followed the fight and hatred
against the whites grew.[3]

The Lakȟóta
and Dakȟóta saw General Sully’s approach from
miles away, his march put a great cloud of dust into the sky. Sully formed his
command in to a large one mile square, and under his command was a detachment
of Winnebago Indian Scouts, traditional enemies of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ (Seven
Council Fires; Great Sioux Nation). A war party of thirty warriors had tussled
with the Winnebago two days before Sully’s arrival.

In Robert Larson's take on the Killdeer Mountain conflict, the Teton are overconfident and Inkpaduta was the chief who organized the defense against Sully.

Historian Robert Larson describes July
28, 1864, nearly perfectly, “…Sully’s five mile march to reach the large Sioux
village was a tense and uncomfortable one. Even though it was morning, the day
would be hot and dry; the tense summer heat had already thinned the grass and
muddied the water holes. On every hill along the valley at the south end of the
village were clusters of mounted warriors.”[4]

The Dakȟóta
under ĺŋkpaduta (Scarlet Point) had been engaged with soldiers since the
Minnesota Dakota Conflict of 1862. They had fled west towards Spirit Lake when
General Sibley and his command caught up to them at Big Mound. The Huŋkphápȟa Lakȟóta
under Phizí (Gall) had crossed the Mníšoše (Missouri River) to the east in
search of game; the heat and drought had driven game from the traditional their
hunting grounds. Sibley’s arrival and pursuit of the Dakȟóta and Lakȟóta towards the Mníšoše marked the
first U.S. military contact against the Huŋkphápȟa.

Tačháŋȟpi
Lúta (Red Tomahawk), infamously known for his part in Sitting Bull’s death years
later, recalled the Sibley Campaign, “There was a shallow lake south of the hills
and about where Dawson now stands. That was fine buffalo country. The buffalo
would get into this lake and mire down so they could not get out. We went there
that time to drive them into the lake and get meat and hides. While we were
there the Santees came along.”

Many of the Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna, who were already dwelling in
their traditional homelands, advanced west at General Sibley’s approach and
“went directly to the Missouri River opposite the Standing Rock and occupied
the country between Beaver Creek [Čhápa Wakpána; Emmons County] and Blue Blanket
Creek [Šiná Tȟó Wakpána; Walworth County].”[5]

Tačháŋȟpi
Lúta referred to the Isáŋyathi (Santee) as “hostile,” but that the Huŋkphápȟa camped with them and joined together
in the hunt. He didn’t detail how the fight began at Big Mound, only that Sibley
pursued them to the Mníšoše. The warriors held the attention of the soldiers,
which allowed the Lakȟóta two days to cross the river. The
ĺsaŋyathi under ĺŋkpaduta and Wakhéye Ská (White Lodge) broke off upon their
approach to Tȟaspáŋla Wakpála (Apple Creek) and
turned north.

ĺŋkpaduta pictured here. After the Little Bighorn fight he went into exile in Canada and died there in 1881.

The Isáŋyathi moved their camps in an
arc, first northerly, then back east and south, and kept a respectable distance
between them and Sibley’s retreat.[6] Šákpe (The Six) and his Bdewákhaŋthuŋwaŋ
Dakȟóta broke from the main body of Isáŋyathi
and crossed the Mníšoše with Hé Núŋpa WaníčA
(No Two Horns) and his band of Huŋkphápȟa. Then they journeyed to Pa ÍpuzA
Napé Wakpána to make camp and hunt with the Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna the following month. Gen. Sully
found the camp that and slaughtered as many as 200 and took over 150 captives,
mostly women and children in both cases.

After the Dakȟóta split from the Lakȟóta, “we went to cross the river. We
were not afraid,” explained Tačháŋȟpi Lúta, “We did not lose any of our
people when we crossed.”[7] He admitted to being
a part of the party who waited the night through and then attacked and killed
two soldiers.

Here's a reconstruction of the Apple Creek conflict. The map comes from a survey of the Missouri River in the 1850s by G.K. Warren.

The late Delma Helman, a Huŋkphápȟa elder from Standing Rock, recalled
the story of the Mníšoše crossing, “The soldiers chased us into the river. We
cut reeds to breathe underwater and held onto stones to keep submerged until
nightfall.” After sunset, they emerged from the river safely onto Burnt Boat
Island (later called Sibley Island) and crossed the Mníšoše.[8]

Mike McDonald, a Dakȟóta elder from the Spirit Lake Oyáte, shared
the oral tradition of the Wanéta Thiyóšpaye (The Charger’s Band) when they reached
the Mníšoše, “The Wanéta band moved north and easterly in wide arc and settled near
present-day Rugby, N.D. at Pleasant Lake. There they stayed until they were invited
unto the Spirit Lake Indian Reservation.” The Dakȟóta
call this lake Wičíbdeza Mní, Pleasant Lake.[9]

Three days after Gen. Sibley’s
departure from Tȟaspáŋla Wakpála, Šákpe (The Six) and
his band of Isáŋyathi came back across the Mníšoše, accompanied by Hé Núŋpa
WaníčA and his band of Huŋkphápȟa[10], and made camp at Čháŋğu
Wakpála (Burnt Wood Creek). Six days later, a mackinaw descended the Mníšoše
with miners from Fort Benton and landed on a sand bar. A Dakȟóta wičháȟčala (an elder Dakota man) they called
Ištá Sapá[11]
(Black Eyes; father of Hé Núŋpa WaníčA) tried to warn the miners away, they
shot him. The Dakȟóta retaliated and killed all the
miners, and cast their gold dust into the river, thinking perhaps it was gun
powder which had gone bad.[12]

The Sibley campaign was the first
military campaign against the Huŋkphápȟa, Sully’s assault at Killdeer was the
second. Sitting Bull’s own pictographic record testifies to his own portrayal,
not as a warrior but as a medicine man, counting coup and stealing a mule from
Sibley’s wagon train in July, 1863.[13] The pictograph testifies
that the Huŋkphápȟa were east of the Mníšoše and present
at the Big Mound fight against Gen. Sibey’s command.

Sitting Bull pictographed his part in the Big Mound conflict in which he stole a mule from Sully and counted coup on one of the men.

Historian Robert Utley estimates that
there were perhaps as many as 1400 lodges at Taȟčá
Wakútepi. It was a sizable village consisting of Huŋkphápȟa, Sihásapa, Mnikȟówožu, Itázipčho, Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna, and Isáŋyathi. Utley paints
the Lakȟóta and Dakȟóta in overconfident tones: “they did
not order the lodges packed,” explains Utley, “nor did they order the village
moved, “The women, children, and old men, in fact, gathered on a high hill to
watch.”[14]

But the camp was moved. At least the
Lakȟóta camp was, from the west side of Taȟčá Wakútepi to the southeast side,
below Medicine Hole the day before Sully’s arrival,[15] in a movement which
placed a fresh water creek between them and the approaching soldiers. The Lakȟóta had learned the previous summer
that water slowed or stopped the soldiers’ advance.

Ernie LaPointe, Tȟatȟáŋka
ĺyotake’s (Sitting Bull’s) direct lineal descendant, a great-grandson of the Huŋkphápȟa leader, offers this retrospective,
“If it had been possible, Tȟatȟáŋka
ĺyotake might have accepted peace terms that simply allowed his people and him
to continue to live their traditional lifestyle.” As it was, Sully’s assault
left one hundred Lakȟóta dead,[16] though Sully’s
reports have the count closer to 150.

A map of the Killdeer conflict as it unfolded, courtesy of the State Historical Society of North Dakota. This author is currently working on a map of the conflict from the perspective of the Lakȟóta.

The Lakȟóta
camp had moved in a position which faced Sully’s left flank; ĺŋkpaduta’s camp
faced Sully’s right. A hunting party, possibly a war party though all the men
were as much prepared to fight as to hunt, skirmished with Sully’s Winnebago
scouts earlier that day. Sully’s command, five miles away, approached Taȟčá Wakútepi for a showdown.

When the soldiers got closer, a lone
Lakȟóta warrior, Šúŋka Waŋžíla (Lone Dog),
decided to test the fighting resolve of the soldiers and boldly rode his horse
within range of fire. The soldiers fired three times at him. Tȟatȟáŋka
Ská (White Bull) believed that Šúŋka Waŋžíla lived a wakȟáŋ life, charmed some would say in English.
“Šúŋka Waŋžíla,” explained Tȟatȟáŋka
Ská, “…was with a ghost and it was hard to shoot him.”[17]

A map of the 1864 Sully campaign in Dakota Territory.

Lt. Col. John Pattee, under Sully’s
command that day, said of Šúŋka Waŋžíla riding, waving, and whooping at the
soldiers, that an aide from Sully approached him, “The General sends his
compliments and wishes you to kill that Indian for God’s sake.” Pattee ordered
three sharpshooters to bring down Šúŋka Waŋžíla. One shot, according to Pattee,
sent Šúŋka Waŋžíla from his horse, though Sully claimed the warrior fell from
his horse.[18]

According to the pictographic record
of Šúŋka Waŋžíla, he was riding, armed with bow and arrows, carrying black
shields as much for practical protection as for spiritual protection, and
received one wound.[19]

The fighting continued north for the
five miles it took for Sully’s command to reach the encampments. For those five
miles, the Lakȟóta held the soldiers’ attention, at
times in brutal hand to hand combat. The Lakȟóta
managed to outflank Sully’s men, which threatened the wagons and horses, so
Sully ordered artillery to open fire. When the fight approached the
encampments, the women hastened to break and flee. Frances “Fanny” Kelly, a
captive of the Lakȟóta said that as soon as soldiers were
sighted, the women withdrew into the hills, woods, and ravines, around Taȟčá Wakútepi, for protection.[20]

Taȟčá Wakútepi (Killdeer Mountain), a view from the south looking north.

On the Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna and Isáŋyathi side of the
conflict, the fight for the Dakȟóta became a stubborn retreat back to
the encampments at the base of Taȟčá Wakútepi. There the soldiers broke
into heavy fire into the Dakȟóta protectors until they finally
broke. White Bull told Stanley Vestal that the Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna and Isáŋyathi were as
strangers to the Lakȟóta, and that they lost thirty when
their line of defense broke.[21]

In a dialog with Mr. Timothy Hunts In
Winter, there was a woman, an ancestor of his, Ohítika Wiŋ (Brave Woman) who
fought at Killdeer. “She was only 14 on the day of the Killdeer fight but she
fought alongside her até (father). Her até was killed that day in battle,”
explained Hunts In Winter, “she was named Ohítika Wiŋ because she was a woman
warrior.”[22]

The Lakȟóta and Dakȟóta encampment lay on the other side of this coulee (the treeline in the middle ground). The Lakȟóta camp moved here from the southwest side of the plateau.

From the Lakȟóta camp there came a singer escorting
a man known as The-Man-Who-Never-Walked, a cripple since birth. His limbs were
twisted and shrunken and in all his forty winters, he had never once hunted nor
fought. When the soldiers came to the camp, The-Man-Who-Never-Walked knew that
this was his one chance to fight. He was loaded onto a travois and a creamy
white horse pulled the drag. The singer led him to where Tȟatȟáŋka
ĺyotake was watching the fight.

When the singer finished his song, he
called out, “This man has been a cripple all his life. He has never gone to
war. Now he asks to be put into this fight.” Tȟatȟáŋka ĺyotake replied, “That is
perfectly all right. Let him die in battle if he wants to.” White Bull later
said of Tȟatȟáŋka
ĺyotake, “Sitting Bull’s heart was full that day. He was proud of his nation.
Even the helpless were eager to do battle in defense of their people.”[23] The horse was
whipped and drove The-Man-Who-Never-Walked straight into a line of soldiers,
who shot the horse then him. They called him Čhaŋte Matȟó (Bear’s Heart) after that because of
his great courage.

A closer look at the south-facing slope of Taȟčá Wakútepi, below Medicine Hole. They would have ascended the plateau going around the landmark and over.

Íŋkpaduta engaged in a counter-attack
on Sully’s right flank to stall his approach and lost twenty-seven warriors in
hand to hand fighting. The Isáŋyathi broke just as Sully’s artillery began to
fire upon the encampment.

Women and children who hadn’t
retreated into the hills and ravines west of Taȟčá
Wakútepi were suddenly in the fight. The women gathered what they could before
abandoning camp, and young boys shepherded the horses to safety. “Children
cried, the dogs were under everybody’s feet, mules balked, and pack horses took
fright at the shell-fire or snorted at the drifting smoke behind them,”
according to Frances Kelly.[24]

The Badlands west of Taȟčá Wakútepi. Thousands of places to hide and rendezvous on top of generations of intimate familiarity with the land helped the Lakȟóta remain elusive.

The Lakȟóta
and Dakȟóta turned west into the Badlands, and
there evaded capture.

The smoke cleared and over a hundred
Lakȟóta and Dakȟóta lay dead. Sully ordered troops to
destroy everything left behind. Lodges, blankets, and food were burned. Dogs
were shot. Children inadvertently left behind in the confusion were chased down
by the Winnebago scouts and killed.

____________________

Glossary:

Čháŋğu Wakpála: Burnt Wood Creek,
Burleigh County, ND

Čhápa Wakpána: Beaver Creek, Emmons
County, ND

Čhaŋte Matȟó: Bear’s Heart
(The-Man-Who-Never-Walked), a forty-year-old disabled Lakȟóta man who fought his first and last
fight at Taȟčá Wakútepi

Hé Núŋpa WaníčA: No Two Horns, a
warrior, artist, and historian of the Huŋkphápȟa;
fought at the Little Bighorn

Huŋkphápȟa:
Head Of The Circle, also known as “Hunkpapa,” one of the seven Thítȟuŋwaŋ tribes

Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna:
Little End Village (Yanktonai), one of the seven tribes that make up the
Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, their language is Wičhíyena

ĺŋkpaduta: Scarlet Point, war chief of
the Waȟpékhute band of the Isáŋyathi

Isáŋyathi: the general name of the
four eastern tribes (Sisíthuŋwaŋ, Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ, Waȟpékhute, and Bdewákhaŋthuŋwaŋ), their
language is Dakȟóta

Matȟó
Watȟákpe: Charging Bear (John Grass), a
war chief of the Sihásapa, one of the seven Thítȟuŋwaŋ
tribes

Mníšoše: Water-Astir (Missouri River)

Očhéthi Šakówiŋ: Seven Council Fires
(The Great Sioux Nation), the confederation is made up of the Thítȟuŋwaŋ, Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna, Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋ, Sisíthuŋwaŋ, Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ, Waȟpékhute, and Bdewákhaŋthuŋwaŋ

Ohítika Wiŋ: Brave Woman, she fought
at Killdeer Mountain alongside her father when she was fourteen years old